Good news in the fight against pancreatic cancer | Laura Indolfi

Translator: Alan Watson Reviewer: Wink Wong

By raising your hand,

在座各位識得至少一個屏幕上面嘅人

how many of you know at least one person on the screen?

請舉手

哇，基本上每個人都舉咗

Wow, it's almost a full house.

佢哋喺自己嘅領域都好出名

It's true, they are very famous in their fields.

你哋知唔知佢哋有咩共同點？

And do you know what all of them have in common?

佢哋都係死於胰腺癌

They all died of pancreatic cancer.

However, although it's very, very sad this news,

雖然係一件好唔好嘅事

it's also thanks to their personal stories

但係都要多謝人哋報導佢哋嘅故仔

that we have raised awareness of how lethal this disease can be.

畀我哋注意到胰腺癌可以有幾致命

It's become the third cause of cancer deaths,

胰臟癌排喺癌症死因嘅第三位

and only eight percent of the patients will survive beyond five years.

只有百分之八嘅病人有超過五年夀命

That's a very tiny number,

相比乳癌生存率接近百分之九十

especially if you compare it with breast cancer,

where the survival rate is almost 90 percent.

呢個係一個好細嘅數字

So it doesn't really come as a surprise

所以當病人畀醫生診斷爲胰腺癌之後

that being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

病人一啲都唔感到意外

means facing an almost certain death sentence.

因為差唔多畀人判咗死刑

What's shocking, though, is that in the last 40 years,

得人驚嘅係過去四十年

this number hasn't changed a bit,

呢個數字冇咩嘢變化

while much more progress has been made

但係其他腫瘤嘅治療 已經有好大嘅進展

with other types of tumors.

So how can we make pancreatic cancer treatment more effective?

所以我哋點樣更有效咁治療胰腺癌？

As a biomedical entrepreneur,

身為一個生物醫學嘅企業家

I like to work on problems that seem impossible,

我鍾意解決嗰啲好似解決唔到嘅問題

understanding their limitations

通過了解佢哋嘅局限

and trying to find new, innovative solutions

嘗試搵出創新嘅方法，改寫個結局

that can change their outcome.

The first piece of bad news with pancreatic cancer

第一件關於胰腺癌嘅壞消息

is that your pancreas is in the middle of your belly, literally.

就係你嘅胰腺直情喺你腹部中間

It's depicted in orange on the screen.

它喺屏幕上嘅橙色位置

But you can barely see it

但係你幾乎睇唔到佢

until I remove all the other organs in front.

除非我將前面其他器官拎走

It's also surrounded by many other vital organs,

但佢又畀好多重要嘅器官包圍住

like the liver, the stomach, the bile duct.

例如肝、胃、膽管

And the ability of the tumor to grow into those organs

而且腫瘤可以生係呢啲器官

is the reason why pancreatic cancer

所以點解胰腺癌係 病人其中一個最痛苦嘅腫瘤

is one of the most painful tumor types.

The hard-to-reach location also prevents the doctor

佢嘅位置難以接近

from surgically removing it,

亦令醫生好難用手術移除佢

as is routinely done for breast cancer, for example.

醫生成日為其他 好似乳癌咁嘅腫瘤做手術

So all of these reasons leave chemotherapy as the only option

因為呢啲原因

胰腺癌病人只可以揀化療

for the pancreatic cancer patient.

This brings us to the second piece of bad news.

跟住講第二個壞消息

Pancreatic cancer tumors have very few blood vessels.

胰腺癌腫瘤有好少血管

Why should we care about the blood vessel of a tumor?

點解我哋要關心一個腫瘤嘅血管？

Let's think for a second how chemotherapy works.

等我哋嚟諗下化療係點樣做嘢嘅

The drug is injected in the vein

藥物被注射入靜脈之後

and it navigates throughout the body until it reaches the tumor site.

藥物流過我哋嘅身體直至去到腫瘤嗰度

It's like driving on a highway, trying to reach a destination.

好似喺高速公路開車，努力駛去目的地

But what if your destination doesn't have an exit on the highway?

但係如果公路冇出口去你嘅目的地呢？

You will never get there.

你永遠都去唔到

And that's exactly the same problem

醫生處理化療同胰腺癌

for chemotherapy and pancreatic cancer.

就正正面對相同嘅問題

The drugs navigate throughout all of your body.

藥物流過你嘅身體

They will reach healthy organs,

佢哋會到達一啲健康嘅器官

resulting in high toxic effect for the patients overall,

令病人整體上出現高度中毒反應

but very little will go to the tumor.

但係藥物好少會去到腫瘤嗰度

Therefore, the efficacy is very limited.

所以療效好有限

To me, it seems very counterintuitive to have a whole-body treatment

我覺得為咗一個器官而要全身治療

to target a specific organ.

好似違反常理咁

However, in the last 40 years,

但係過去嘅四十年

a lot of money, research and effort have gone towards

我哋洗咗好多錢、做研究

finding new, powerful drugs to treat pancreatic cancer,

同努力咁去搵 新嘅、強效嘅藥物去醫胰腺癌

but nothing has been done in changing the way

但我哋將藥物 送入病人身體嘅方法冇改過

we deliver them to the patient.

So after two pieces of bad news,

聽咗兩個壞消息之後

I'm going to give you good news, hopefully.

我會話你知好消息

With a collaborator at MIT

我哋同麻省理工大學

and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,

同埋波士頓嘅麻省總醫院合作

we have revolutionized the way we treat cancer

徹底改變治療癌症嘅方法

by making localized drug delivery a reality.

實現藥物局部輸送

We are basically parachuting you on top of your destination,

我哋基本上將你空降到你要嘅目的地

avoiding your having to drive all around the highway.

而唔使你行成條高速公路

We have embedded the drug into devices that look like this one.

我哋將藥物注入咗類似呢啲裝置入面

They are flexible enough that they can be folded

佢哋靈活到可以摺疊 適合伸入導管裡面

to fit into the catheter,

so the doctor can implant it directly on top of the tumor

所以醫生可以直接將裝置 植入到腫瘤上面

with minimally invasive surgery.

然後做最輕微嘅入侵性手術

But they are solid enough that once they are positioned

但係佢哋一旦畀人植入腫瘤上面

on top of the tumor,

就會好堅固，而且會好似雀籠咁

they will act as a cage.

They will actually physically prevent the tumor

其實佢哋生理上 係防止腫瘤入侵其他器官

from entering other organs,

controlling the metastasis.

控制腫瘤轉移

The devices are also biodegradable.

呢啲裝置仲係生物分解

That means that once in the body,

即是佢哋一旦擺喺身體入面

they start dissolving,

佢哋就會開始被分解

delivering the drug only locally, slowly and more effectively

比起現時全身治療

than what is done with the current whole-body treatment.

藥物更加局部、慢慢、有效咁輸送

In pre-clinical study, we have demonstrated

我哋喺臨牀前嘅研究已經證實

that this localized approach

呢個局部性方式 有效提高治療效果十二倍

is able to improve by 12 times the response to treatment.

So we took a drug that is already known

所以我哋用一隻已知嘅藥物

and by just delivering it locally where it's needed the most,

只係將佢放係最需要佢嘅地方

we allow a response that is 12 times more powerful,

我哋有咗十二倍嘅療效

reducing the systemic toxic effect.

仲減少身體中毒反應

We are working relentlessly to bring this technology to the next level.

我哋好努力咁將呢項技術 帶入下一階段

We are finalizing the pre-clinical testing

我哋就嚟做完臨牀前試驗同動物試驗

and the animal model required prior to asking the FDA for approval

做咗呢兩個先可以向美國藥物管理局

for clinical trials.

申請做臨牀試驗

Currently, the majority of patients will die from pancreatic cancer.

宜家大多數胰腺癌病人都冇得醫

We are hoping that one day,

我哋希望將來有一日

we can reduce their pain, extend their life

可以減輕佢哋嘅痛苦，延長佢哋嘅生命

and potentially make pancreatic cancer

而且希望胰腺癌 將來變成可以亦醫返好嘅病

a curable disease.

By rethinking the way we deliver the drug,

我哋因為反思輸送藥物嘅方式

we don't only make it more powerful and less toxic,

我哋唔單止令治療更有效同少啲毒性

we are also opening the door to finding new innovative solutions

仲同時為胰腺癌同其他癌症 幾乎所有唔可能解決嘅問題

for almost all other impossible problems

in pancreatic cancer patients and beyond.

打開通往創新療法嘅大門

Thank you very much.

多謝大家

(Applause)

（掌聲）